Posted by Francesca Lyman on Jul 19, 2015 in Blog | Comments Off on A Tale on a Beach: Fabulous Fish Sighting

Beachgoers caught an uncommon fish sighting on the shores of Lake Washington recently. Lounging on the rocks amid a tangle of seaweed was a mermaid. An 11-year-old — whose name is Hannah ( no relation to Darryl ) — she was caught basking in the sun on a Kirkland beach. She didn’t speak to us, but taking a short breather that afternoon, gave us a rare chance to snap some shots of her tail.
Later, in an even rarer email exchange with a water nymph, Hannah spoke about her journey from girl to naiad.

“At first, no, I was not born a mermaid,” wrote Hannah, who says she dreamed of being a mermaid at age 9. Finding a treasure trove in an enchanted jewelry box, she wrote, sparked her metamorphosis at age 10.

“Of course there is a kingdom under the sea with plentiful mermaids, who don’t want to be found,” wrote Hannah, “but I am a special kind of mermaid who does not mind the land folk attention.”

According to this mermaid, “The coolest thing about being a mermaid is probably seeing everyone happy, when they see my tail.”

Her only complaint: Dogs are a bit less delighted by her presence—they bark at her, she said, probably because they’re a bit “freaked out”.

When asked how people react to her appearance, she responded, “People treat me wonderfully (except the scientists).” While her experience bears an uncanny resemblance to that of Darryl Hannah in the movie Splash, she made no further mention of any scientific studies underway related to her as an aquatic specimen. In fact, as far as we know, there are no credible scientific studies to show that mermaids exist. But she sure looked real!

In any case, we Finn Hillians were mesmerized, eager to share these captured glimpses of this enchanted emissary of the Fin Folk underwater kingdom. “People are always stopping by asking for pictures,” she wrote.

Hannah, who lives with her family in Snoqualmie, could visit a Finn Hill beach one day soon. Keep your eyes out, Finn Hillians, for her Mono-Fin!